Why India might seek foreign carrier advice

Why might India seek British or American advice for an indigenous aircraft carrier?

Foreign experience could help India refine a mature domestic design and avoid known pitfalls, while the cooperation also served wider strategic relationships.

A report that India's next carrier was using British advice is treated as plausible, though unconfirmed. India already had a mature indigenous carrier programme, and foreign experience could refine domestic design work while helping avoid known pitfalls. British carrier experience and Indian-developed systems could inform each other. The United States also had reasons to share expertise because closer relations with India affected its strategy toward China. Foreign design advice therefore belonged to a broader defence relationship shaped by China.